Motorboats of all styles have been used in the past for recreation as well as for support of fishing outings on various lakes, rivers, or other bodies of water. Such boats include a main outboard or inboard motor to rapidly place the boat in a desired location for fishing. Such boats also include significantly smaller trolling motors which are mounted to the boat for selective placement in the water for more precise positioning of the boat or repositioning of the boat once the general area where fishing is to take place has been rapidly reached using the main motor.
Generally speaking, the trolling motors have been placed on swinging linkages that stow the trolling motor on the gunwale of the boat for transport over the road or while motoring with the main inboard or outboard motor. The linkage can then be swung to position the propeller of the trolling motor in the water. Many prior designs using the swinging linkage would position the trolling motorhead, which contained the drive motor, in a fixed position from a vertical standpoint. The heads of such trolling motors had extension segments suitable for a grip of the hand to rotate the trolling motor about a vertical axis to effect directional changes in the boat while trolling. Still other swinging linkage support systems for the trolling motors also had various clamps and brackets which could be loosened and tightened selectively to physically adjust the height of the trolling motorhead and, hence, the propeller with respect to the waterline. These adjustments were usually made at one time at the outset by the fisherman and generally left undisturbed for subsequent fishing trips.
The shortcomings of the prior support mechanisms for trolling motors were that they were not readily flexible to different styles of fishing during trolling operation. Some fishermen prefer to sit; others prefer to stand; yet others go back and forth between those positions while trolling. A trolling motor in a relatively fixed position may accommodate a fisherman of a particular height or size in a particular position, but was not flexible to provide a greater degree of access and comfort to the trolling motor controls when the fisherman would move around while trolling.
The apparatus of the present invention has been developed to provide an easy way to obtain the desired flexibility to accommodate a wide variety of positions of the fisherman during trolling. Additionally, the handle is adjustable up or down, and the resistance to movement is also adjustable. Protective features in the mechanism have been employed to act positively to reduce, if not eliminate, potential damage to the apparatus due to overtightening. As a result, the disclosed apparatus gives the fisherman a firm grip on the trolling motorhead, adequate leverage to affect changes in course for the boat using the trolling motor, as well as an expanded range of adjustment to enhance the comfort of operation during trolling.